Back to the reality of April

This weekend was GORGEOUS. 60 degrees and sunny and wonderful. We played outside, I got rid of the dead stuff in the flower bed and was just in love with the great outdoors. And then today and 40 degrees hit. Sigh.

Xander had his first friend's birthday party on Saturday. That was interesting. I wasn't sure how it was going to go but he and 4 of his friends had a ball. They got to play pirates and break open a pinata. (I can't figure out how to get the ~ over the n. Hmmm). At any rate, it looked like something that could be doable. But I'm not sure I'm quite ready for that. That's one step closer to school age type activity and I'm not quite ready to let go of the little boy who gives me all of those hugs and kisses. I guess I'm stock piling for later when kissing mom isn't cool anymore.

Sunday we had my niece's second birthday party and spent more times out of doors. Did I mention it was 60?

Today was back to work with meetings and reviewing candidate files and looking at my to-do list that is 5 miles long. Double sigh. I'm going to close my eyes and pretend it's still Saturday. That's better. =)

Learning to say no

And not to my kids.
It's my professional life that is a mindless tangle of meetings and committees and well...work because of some inability I have to say no to things. Take my current commitments for example:

1. Chair of the department
2. Chair of search committee for new librarian
3. Secretary of regional organization
4. Member of campus technology committee
5. Member of campus self study committee and chair of subcommittee 2
6. Member of a conference planning committee and head of local arrangements

I've received several calls for volunteers recently and I've thus far avoided volunteering for anything else. I've also started to ask for help which, I think, really shows just how overwhelmed I am.

So here is to learning to say no and hopefully a reduction to the stress levels in my life. My you all learn from my near nervous breakdown.